Legend of Zelda

The Nintendo Switch had an excellent 2017, which was driven in part by Nintendo's focus on putting a bunch of first-party franchises on the console early. Part of the way Nintendo achieved this was by porting games from the Wii U over to the Switch, as it did with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and Pokken Tournament DX. We learned today that Nintendo is going to continue this trend of porting old Wii U games over to the Switch, as it announced two more games today during its Direct Mini broadcast.

While 2017 was a rough year in many regards, it was one of the best for gaming. This past year was packed with so many excellent releases that making a list of the best could very well turn out to be a losing proposition. I’m going to try, though I should mention that these are my favorites of the year - this list was not determined by committee, nor will it be ranked. Since this is a list of my personal favorites, I’ll obviously only be discussing games that I’ve played. Therefore, if you don’t see your favorite game of the year, don’t necessarily take it to mean that it isn’t good. Let’s dig in!

At this point, we can safely say that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is one of the best games of the year. Breath of the Wild has been earning a number of different Game of the Year honors as we close in on the end of 2018, so it's only natural that players would be wondering about the future of the game and whether or not we'll receive more DLC. It looks like we won't, as Breath of the Wild is now considered to be a finished product by its creators.

Japanese-made RPGs are often fluid in terms of their settings. Fantasy isn’t always fantasy and you’re likely to see some automatons mixed with wands and potions. So when Link starts a motorbike across mountains and rustic terrain, it all feels natural. In fact, it feels fantastic! That is practically the general reaction to the last few seconds of the trailer that introduced The Champions’ Ballad, the second and newest expansion to the breath-taking The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

2017 was a pretty big year for video games, and on December 7, Geoff Keighley will attempt to distinguish the best of the best with the fourth installment of The Game Awards. Keighley took to YouTube today to announce the nominees for all of The Game Awards' categories this year, and it seems to be a packed year for awards. Game of the Year for 2017 should be a particularly tight race, as it's packed with five games that are very much loved among players.

Now that it's officially November, it's time to begin looking forward to (or dreading, depending your perspective) Black Friday. Nintendo is definitely excited, as it's announced the deals it has on deck for Black Friday shoppers. Some of the best revolve around The Legend of Zelda series, so if you've yet to take the plunge on Breath of the Wild, you might want to check these out.

This Nintendo Switch mod gives you a taste of inception by making you feel like Link holding a Sheikah Slate to control Link holding a Sheikah Slate. Convoluted, confusing, and absolutely wonderful? Definitely! And expensive too. But if you're a die-hard Zelda fan and collector, this latest MakoMod creation will be too good to pass up. Especially if it's a one of a kind "skin" that trumps whatever Zelda-themed Switch Nintendo may or may not, and most likely won't, come up with.

While a lot of the focus on Nintendo's E3 may center around Metroid and Mario, Breath of the Wild was also on display during the show. In a trailer run yesterday during the company's E3 livestream, Nintendo gave us our first looks at the DLC coming along with the Breath of the Wild season pass. Today, Nintendo is diving into further depth about what we can expect from the first DLC pack, dubbed The Master Trials. We've heard a lot of this information before, but there are some new details that will definitely please Breath of the Wild fans.

How serious is Nintendo about the mobile gaming market? Apparently serious enough to bring its second most popular franchise to smartphones. Sources familiar with the matter claim that the Japanese gaming giant is planning to bring The Legend of Zelda to mobile, and it might be doing so not long after it launches Animal Crossing on mobile later this year. But like anything related to the intersection of Nintendo and mobile, it's exact form is still unknown.

Breath of the Wild has cemented its place in history with record-breaking success and rave reviews. If Nintendo's numbers are to be believed, it's the best Zelda installment yet. It doesn't hurt that it is, for all intents and purposes, the Nintendo Switch's launch title. Riding on that success, Nintendo is now teasing some of the things players can expect from the game's first DLC, which seems to revolve around giving players a harder time.

Back at GDC in March, just before The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched, Nintendo made an unprecedented revelation. It showed the tool it used to quickly prototype some of Breath of the Wild's gameplay mechanics and ideas. To make a long story short, it was practically a recreation of BotW's 3D world in the 8-bit 2D aesthetics of the original Zelda game. The developers should have expected that someone would be inspired by this. And, of course, it did happen. And so Breath of the NES was born.

If you're still having problems finding a Nintendo Switch, we've got some good news and some bad news for you. The good news is that they're back in stock at GameStop. The bad news is that you'll have to shell out a lot of dough to take one home.